Comment Re:So.... (Score 1) 915
Poverty? War? Are these the only issues that matter now?
Comment Re:Great (Score 5, Informative) 47
I'm not sure if your (good) questions are legitimate and about the site or rhetorical and about the quality of reportage. If it's the former, then:
WHY did they create this site?
They didn't. It was forked from Wikitravel several years ago.
What's the motivation for creating a second one that has the same content?
Free culture. This site is run on a non-profit basis. At the risk of sounding pedantic, it's worth it to have free alternatives. This is like saying, "We already have a newspaper, so why have alternative weeklies?"
And why do all the articles about Wikivoyage neglect to mention Wikitravel?
That's maybe your best question and providing context to these stories will help to clarify *why* this is news at all. The Wikimedia Foundation probably doesn't mention them in their press because of litigious threats and the fact that Wikivoyage has (and has had) its own identity, but news outlets should do their research and post background information making your questions redundant rather than simply parroting press releases.
WHY did they create this site?
They didn't. It was forked from Wikitravel several years ago.
What's the motivation for creating a second one that has the same content?
Free culture. This site is run on a non-profit basis. At the risk of sounding pedantic, it's worth it to have free alternatives. This is like saying, "We already have a newspaper, so why have alternative weeklies?"
And why do all the articles about Wikivoyage neglect to mention Wikitravel?
That's maybe your best question and providing context to these stories will help to clarify *why* this is news at all. The Wikimedia Foundation probably doesn't mention them in their press because of litigious threats and the fact that Wikivoyage has (and has had) its own identity, but news outlets should do their research and post background information making your questions redundant rather than simply parroting press releases.
Submission + - FOSS options for e-Readers and tablets?
koavf writes: I'm just getting into the free/open source community, although I have been using some free resources like Firefox and Wikipedia for several years now. I'm thinking about buying an e-Reader, but I'm not sure which ones will be best about allowing me to control my own data and respect my privacy or which ones use FOSS. Any thoughts?
Submission + - China to Scan Texts to Spot "Unhealthy Content" (nytimes.com)
koavf writes: Hot on the heels of Google's decision to stop censoring search results at google.con, the People's Republic of China has ordered cellphone companies to suspend text services to users who send "unhealthy" messages. To combat the dissemination of pornography, cellular companies in Beijing and Shanghai have been told to suspend text services to cellphone users who are found to have sent messages with "illegal or unhealthy content."
Text messages will be automatically scanned for keywords provided by the police. Messages will be deemed ""unhealthy" if they violate undisclosed criteria established by the central government.
Text messages will be automatically scanned for keywords provided by the police. Messages will be deemed ""unhealthy" if they violate undisclosed criteria established by the central government.
Comment Re:Inaccurate title (Score 2, Insightful) 137
I wish I could figure out how to delete (stupid) comments. Please ignore and move along. Thanks.
Comment Inaccurate title (Score 0, Offtopic) 137
There are several older domains, e.g. purdue.edu: http://whois.domaintools.com/purdue.edu
Submission + - Radiohead to only release digital singles
koavf writes: "Radiohead have become the latest major rock act to announce that they will no longer release albums in any format, but focus on digital singles. Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins made a similar declaration last year. This comes on the heels of the major record labels and Apple developing competing multimedia packages to encourage music fans to buy and listen to entire albums."
Submission + - Periodic table gets a new, unnamed element (bbc.co.uk) 2
koavf writes: More than a decade after experiments first produced a single atom of "super-heavy" element 112, a team of German scientists has been credited with its discovery, but it has yet to be named. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has temporarily named the element ununbium, as "ununbi" means "one one two" in Latin; but the team now has the task of proposing its official name.
Submission + - Former Facebook executive is new MySpace CEO (cnn.com)
koavf writes: Former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta has been named the CEO of MySpace by parent company News Corp. He is replacing Chris DeWolfe who will remain a board member.
Submission + - Social networks help fuel democracy in Moldova (nytimes.com)
koavf writes: "Young Moldovans have employed text messaging, Facebook, and even a custom searchable tag on Twitter to help oust the Communist government amidst allegations of vote tampering. With social networking technology, a half-dozen democrats recruited over 15,000 youth to storm Parliament in a matter of hours. In a television broadcast, Moldovan president Voronin described the protests as "well-designed, well-thought out, coordinated, planned and paid for.""
Submission + - C-SPAN claims rights on all domains named "CSP (cspanjunkie.org)
koavf writes: "C-SPAN has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the video site C-SPAN Junkie asking that they:
"Stop using a domain name containing our service mark 'C-SPAN' or any variation of it.""
Submission + - Facebook Reverts TOS, Drafts Bill of Rights
koavf writes: "Facebook has decided to return to its previous Terms of Service — dated September 23, 2008 — until it can better determine how to proceed from the controversy caused by its most recent Terms. To help ensure they don't make the same mistakes again, they've also started the "Facebook Bill of Rights," a Facebook group formed specifically to allow people "to give input and suggestions on Facebook's Terms of Use.""
Submission + - Sony profits fall 95% in third quarter of 2008 (iht.com)
koavf writes: Sony Corp. said Thursday that net profit fell 95 percent in fiscal third quarter, as the global recession undermined sales of televisions and cameras. Figures from Sony and Nintendo are expected to be good indicators of the economic downturn in Japan.
Submission + - Isle of Man plans a new remedy for digital piracy (nytimes.com)
koavf writes: "Under a proposal announced this month, the 80,000 people who live on the Isle of Man would be able to download unlimited amounts of music — perhaps even from notorious peer-to-peer pirate sites. To make this possible, broadband subscribers would pay a nominal fee of as little as £1, or $1.38, a month to their Internet service providers."
